Heroes

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of racism.

The epigraph of Part 3 is attributed to a poem that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt carried with her throughout WWII, which reads, “Dear Lord, / Lest I continue / My complacent way / Help me remember / Somehow out there / A man died for me today. / As long as there / be war, / I then must / Ask and answer / Am I worth dying for?” (185).

On Saturday, December 13, nearly a week after the attack, Frank rides on a boat with several seamen headed for Honolulu. The harbor is filled with the wreckage of damaged ships. Half the Pacific fleet is destroyed, and bodies float everywhere. During the attack, several American planes had been shot down by friendly fire in the chaos, though Frank’s father survived the experience. The day after the attack, President Roosevelt addressed Congress to formally declare war on Japan. Germany and Italy responded by declaring war on the US as well. Now America has entered the war in Europe and Asia, and the whole country is ready to fight.

As the boat takes Frank across the harbor, he sees a barge filled with Japanese Americans floating by.